Barbie Ripper
by nonoza
Summary: Written for the Klaroline challenge. Klaus comes to Mystic Falls early. He has Caroline turned on the night of Miss Mystic. She fits into his plans for breaking the curse and making hybrids.
1. Chapter 1

Caroline was hung over. At least it felt that way. Oddly, she didn't remember drinking. She groaned and rolled over, only to fall about two feet. "Ow," she opened her eyes. Okay, she must have been really drunk because this looked like a haunted house.

"Took you long enough," said a smooth British accent, "I was beginning to think you wouldn't wake."

Caroline blinked and looked around for the source. As soon as she laid eyes on the smirking blond memories flooded back. She had been so happy. She'd just been crowned Miss Mystic Falls and Elena hadn't even dropped out of the race. People had congratulated her, taken her picture and asked her to attend their functions. When the excitement died down she put her jacket over her arm and ran. The excitement, the energy, the joy, it all threatened to overflow if she didn't find a release.

She came upon a man. Only then did she realise that she was in the forest. "Hello there," he was suddenly right in her face. She gasped sharply as her mind tried to process what she had just seen. A smooth, pale finger made its way down her cheek. Caroline shivered at the cruel smirk before her.

"Are you going to hurt me?" she asked in a small voice. She was scared, terrified.

"No," he smiled, "I can't make any promises regarding his actions though," he pointed to another blond man, one Caroline recognised.

"Stefan?" she squinted. He didn't respond. Just bit into his own wrist. She cried out, her empathetic response to seeing something painful happen to someone. Before she could close her mouth he had flash over and jammed his bleeding wrist between her lips. Automatically her hands went up and she did what she could to push his arm away. Her mouth started to fill with blood. Stefan put his other hand through the blond locks and pulled her head back. The warm liquid flowed down her throat. Her body revolted against the rusty metallic taste but the guy she thought was her friend kept her in place as choked and gargled. After what felt like forever Stefan stopped.

Caroline coughed and spat. Her mind reeled. The mean British guy grabbed Stefan by the throat. "Go home, remember nothing," he instructed. To Caroline's further bewilderment Stefan did as he was told.

"What the," gasp, "What the hell?"

"Shhh," the blond man put his finger over his full lips. Then he put his hands on either side of her face and leaned in like he was going to kiss her. Then he snapped her neck and slung her over his shoulder. Hell he even whistled as he took her to his hideout. There Caroline lay on a makeshift bed until she rolled onto her side and toppled off it.

She shot up off the floor and patted herself down, looking around for something she could recognise. Her body did not feel like her own. She swallowed but that did nothing for her parched throat. "Who are you?" she asked the man sitting calmly with his legs crossed, "What have you done to me?" She was so confused.

"One question at a time love," her captor tutted, "I am Niklaus. As for what I've done to you, well that's a work in progress."

He snapped his fingers and called a brown haired man to Caroline's attention. She could hear his heart then, pumping rapidly. He walked over and tilted his head, offering her his carotid artery. "Have at it," Klaus ran a nail across the artery, creating a thin slit upon which blood pooled.

"No," Caroline cried, not understanding her body's reaction to this. She should have been repulsed, not salivating.

"Come now love, have at it," Klaus pushed the warm body closer. Caroline leaned in. She felt her teeth elongate against nature. Her jaw clamped down on his neck and she pulled in the warm liquid, enjoying her growing power, taking pleasure in the taste and texture. She started sucking harder, sinking her fingers into his flesh. Such was her strength that she ended up crushing his humerous and breaking his neck in her effort to get to the sweet juice flowing through his body.

When she was done, her hands fell open. The body dropped to the flour and Caroline pounced on Klaus. He caught her hands and pinned her to the wall. "Calm down, I'm not your enemy," he told her.

"You made me kill him, you son of a bitch!" she yelled through her tears.

"Everything is heightened in the beginning. Turn it off before I have to kill you," he advised.

"Kill me," she dropped her arms and started sobbing. The remorse she was feeling took her breath away, crushed her from within.

"Ah guilt," Klaus sighed, "You really don't need to be feeling that."

"Yes I do," she turned around, crying still and slid down the wall. She caught a glimpse of herself in an old broken mirror. Her attention was diverted. "My dress," she screeched, "I look like Carrie at the prom!"

"I should have taken that other blond," Klaus sighed. It was bad enough to have a new vampire around without her being a drama queen on steroids.

"Why did you take me?" she asked, focusing her attention again, "Answer me Nicholas!" she just refused to speak at a reasonable volume!

"Ni-_klaus_!" he growled, pulling herself up and pushing her into a wall.

"What kinda weirdo name is that?" Caroline's face scrunched in on itself. As she said it she knew just how crazy it was to say that to a man who had her up against a wall and had no qualms about taking her life. She felt out of control.

"A thousand year old one so watch yourself," Klaus tapped her nose with his index finger. Caroline's brain cleared away the nonsense that kept her distracting her.

"What have you done to me?" she asked again. This time she wasn't yelling. This time she wanted him to explain it to her. She wanted this lost feeling to go away.

"I've made you powerful, immortal," he said the words like they were part of a seduction, "See, a new world order is coming and I'm gonna need a luitenant."

"What am I?" she asked in a small, quivering voice. What he was saying was not really making sense to her.

"A vampire," he told her what she already suspected but her brain refused to accept.

"I wanna go home," she wrapped her hands around herself and slid to the ground sobbing.

"Now, now, none of that," Klaus wagged his finger at her, "We need to hit the road," he grabbed her upper arm and hauled her to her feet.

"Please let me go," she sobbed.

"Be quiet," he compelled her. Caroline opened her mouth and tried to speak but nothing came out. She tried harder to speak, still nothing. "I'll teach you that one later," he smirked. He tried to pull her arm but she dug her heels into the dirt. She shook her head, crying. She put her hands together, pleading. "What?" he stopped and rolled his eyes. "Speak," he got impatient.

"I want to bury him," she looked sadly at the broken man on the floor.

"No one will find him here," Klaus dismissed.

"That's not the point," she wailed, "I killed him. He belonged to someone. He was loved. I took him away and I don't even know his name."

"He's human," Klaus dismissed, "His life, and subsequently his death, means nothing."

"To you," Caroline sneered, "His life doesn't matter _to you_. It matters to his family. It matters to me!"

Klaus rolled his eyes and proceeded to drag Caroline away. "Quiet," he roared, compelling her into silence once again. Tears streamed down the girl's face as she was dragged along by a somewhat bored hybrid. He had his work cut out for him if he was going to turn this whiny sack of piss into a ripper.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: So this story was originally written for a challenge but I failed to make the deadline. I'm invested in the story anyway. The first chapter got over five hundred hits but only three reviews. Three great reviews so I'm not complaining. I noticed that the review feature was malfunctioning when I uploaded the story so I get the lack of numbers. This is my first Vampire diaries fic, my confidence is shaky. Help me out.**

Caroline woke up from a terrible nightmare in which a British hunk had mistreated her most cruelly. "Story of my life," she groaned.

"So I'm not the first person you annoyed into breaking your neck," Klaus brought her to her reality. At this point Caroline realised she was not on a bed but a cold, hard surface. A cold, hard, moving surface.

"I was hoping you were a nightmare, at worst a metaphor for the tragic way I relate to men," she said hoarsely, pushing herself onto her knees. She yelped and jumped back when she saw the coffins. "Do I have to sleep in there now?" she asked in a small voice. Klaus burst into a fit of knee-slapping laughter. Caroline's anger rose and boiled over in a matter of seconds. She threw herself at him, baring her fangs. She knew how ridiculous it was to attack someone because they laughed at you, she was not a child. Strange, she never had temper issues before.

Klaus simply leaned back and caught her hands then turned them over so he had her pinned to the floor. "Get off me you bastard!" she spat, struggling against his hold.

"Make me," he taunted, releasing her wrists. Caroline punched him in the jaw, causing him to fall beside her. Lightning quick, she was on him, punching and elbowing and swearing. It was like she couldn't hurt him enough. Klaus was amused. He'd wasted an entire day trying to provoke a reaction that did not involve tears out of this little bombshell, pitting her against stragglers he picked up along the way and nothing. She fought and fought hard but that was just instinct. He needed her to want the fight, live for it. Eventually he'd just snapped her neck and loaded her onto the truck along with the other dead vampires in his life.

Suddenly her assault on him halted. "We're moving," she looked around, she was so easily distracted this one, "Where the hell are we going?" she slammed him into the floor, denting it.

"We're taking a tour of the Eastern Seaboard," he smirked. It was wasted on Caroline. She was busy having really bad, terribly infuriating Damon flashbacks.

"Turn this thing around," she growled.

"Why ever would I do that?" Klaus was intrigued. His ripper was fuming. This was a good sign.

"You spent the bulk of today pitting me against other... vampires," she pushed her leg back and planted the tip of her boot dangerously close to the apex of his thighs. Klaus had made her put on shorts, a t-shirt and army issue boots for his little fight club. She gripped his shirt as she stood, hauling him to his feet with her. "I have some unfinished business with a vampire in Mystic Falls."

"Do tell," Klaus' amusement returned.

"Mind your own fucking business," Caroline shoved him and his annoying smirk away. In a flash her was in front of her.

"Tell me," he compelled.

"Damon Salvatore," she sneered, "He..." she swallowed, tears springing to her eyes, "He used me," anger washed over her, "He compelled me, manipulated me to get into Elena's life, to screw with his brother, to... warm his bed," she spat in disgust.

"I'll give my driver a call," Klaus pulled a phone out of his pocket. Being a vampire gave you instant strength and speed. Fighting skill on the other hand, you had to gain with experience. And this was going to be one hell of a dog fight. Caroline stood at the giant door fuming. She had flashes of herself being bitten, thrown against the headboard of a bed, being told she was useless, wearing scarves, arguing with Bonnie and Elena about her 'relationship' with Damon, having sex with said vampire. A sick feeling rose from her stomach. Klaus watched as her nails dug into her skin because her fists were curled so tightly. It was right then that he knew he had made the right choice.

It was fittingly dark when the nondescript truck stopped on a deserted patch of road. The door went up and Caroline was shocked at the clarity with which she could see. It was night and yet she could see the detail on the leaves of the trees. It was strange being this way. Everything was... detailed, acute, potent to an almost uncontrollable degree. She was too full of purpose to be distracted. Swiftly, she stepped down from the truck, Klaus along with her.

"This is personal and not for your entertainment," Caroline put her arm up in front of Klaus, blocking him.

"I'll leave you to it love," Klaus promised, "Consider me Emergency Evacuation."

Caroline gave a hard glare at her captor. His stupid smirk was present but she could tell he was serious. The baby vampire started her determined, angry walk. "If you try to run from me Caroline I will slaughter this entire town, starting with its pretty, blond sheriff," he warned, wrapping a finger around a curl and pulling it out, catching the scent of her hair. Caroline walked faster. She was a smart girl. She figured out in the first ten minutes of real interaction with him that there was no easy way out of his grasp. He had the power to make her stay. She had no doubt he would hurt, no, kill her mother and not even blink. Liz Forbes had probably been and probably still was burning the midnight oil. This is the one time in her life Caroline was glad for her mother's mysteriously busy job in small town law enforcement.

"The older a vampire the stronger they are," Klaus educated, "Damon has a century and a half on you. You'd be wise not to lose the element of surprise."

"Spare me the lecture on fighting strategies," Caroline flipped her hand dismissively, "I'm a hundred pound girl, I took self-defence, my mother's the sheriff. Save your breath."

Klaus chuckled a little in his throat at that, aggravating his captive even further. Caroline just upped her pace. Before she knew it she was behind the Salvatore house. Klaus squatted on a branch in a nearby tree. He didn't bother telling Caroline she couldn't enter a house uninvited. It really didn't apply here. Caroline tore a branch from a tree and entered the mansion. She caught a glimpse of Klaus as a reflection on a window.

Damon was having a drink, shocker. Tomb full of pissed off, rotting vampires, cellar full of hopped up, rotting brother. Yeah, drinking time. So when Caroline Forbes marched into his house he had to roll his eyes. "I'm a little busy right now," he told her, "More to the point I'm in no mood for your teeny bopper drama."

Caroline closed her eyes in an attempt to keep some level of self-control. In the next second she flashed over to Damon, catching him completely off guard, and driving her makeshift stake into his shoulder, separating his arm from his body. A base sound of pain ripped from Damon's throat. The finger of his detached arm twitched. He curled the fist of his still useful hand and swung at Caroline. She was expecting it. Damon's reflexes had been fucked by his mind's attempt to stitch Caroline's strength to vampirism and her rage to acts he committed that she would now remember. Caroline put her arm up to block the assault as she pulled the branch out of Damon to plunge it into him again. She ducked into his chest, driving the stake into his right pectoral, dangerously close to his heart, and into the floor. He clipped her with his fist though. Sending her toppling to the ground. He tried to get up but pain shot through his body. His hard breathing became harsher as he used his legs as levers. Caroline got to her feet, holding her head. She saw Damon's attempt to get up. That was something she could not allow if she wanted to leave this house alive. With all her strength she kicked him right above the knee, displacing the cap.

"That's for trying to kill me you dickless son of a bitch," she spat.

"Caroline," Damon gasped, "The-"

"Shut up," she planted her boot in his mouth, "Not a word out of you," she picked up his drink and threw it back. When she was done she smashed it into his face. Klaus laughed on his perch. It wasn't amusement. He was amazed. This was turning out better than he thought. "I came here to kill you," she opened a drawer and pushed some pens around till she found a pencil. "Move that hand one more inch," she warned as Damon wrapped his hand around the branch, "And I will gnaw it off with my teeth."

He let go grudgingly, glaring up at her. For the life of him he did not know why she was scratching away in that drawer and he had a feeling he did not want to. Blondie, as it turned out, was pretty fucking vicious. "Are you really going to kill me?" he asked. Surely this could not be the girl who was crowned Miss Mystic Falls last night.

"Yes," she answered, "But not yet," she drew the pencil out of the drawer.

"No," Damon screamed. Klaus gasped as Caroline drove the sharp little object right through Damon's eye.

"You'll live," she stood up and walked away from the writhing, screaming mess that was Damon Salvatore. Caroline had spent the day trying to reign in her dangerous instincts. It felt good to give into them. This she was ashamed of. But the most significant thing she'd done tonight was take revenge and, infinitely more importantly, control. Klaus jumped down from his tree.

"Bravo Ripper," he gave Caroline a standing ovation. She gave him the finger as she passed. He smiled and followed her to the truck. His hope was renewed.

**Review**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Thank you all for the lovely reviews. They're inspiring. Keep them coming and I'll do my very best to keep you happy.**

Damon looked at the note again. It was addressed to Stefan but did Blondie really think he would let it reach his brother after she stabbed him in the eye? He flexed his arm, needing to feel it was attached to his body. _Stefan _the note said _Being held prisoner by vamp named Niklaus. Help me. Don't involve my mom. Caroline._ She could remain his prisoner for the rest of eternity. He threw the note in the fire and watched with vindictive satisfaction as it was devoured.

Damon took a trip to Sheriff Forbes' house. Liz opened the door with the phone to her ear. "Caroline Forbes if you don't call me back in the next hour I'm going to put together a search party and scour the countryside for your scrawny little behind," she hissed into the device then cut the call. "Please don't tell me we have anymore vampire problems Damon. I have a rebellious teenager to deal with."

Damon couldn't help but smile. He looked down to hide it. Liz had no idea the vampire problem! "May I come in?" he asked somberly.

"What is it?" the sheriff asked. She could tell by the look on Damon's face that something was horribly wrong. She didn't need this right now.

"It's about Caroline," the vampire answered.

"Is she alright?" Liz grabbed the door frame.

"Not out here," Damon whispered.

"Of course, come inside," Liz moved out of the way. Score! Damon walked into the house. "What's happened?" Liz demanded.

"Drink first," Damon poured liquor and handed her the glass.

"Where is my baby?" she slapped it out of his hand.

"She isn't your baby anymore Liz," Damon put a firm hand on her shoulder.

"What are you talking about?" she asked tearfully.

"She came to my house yesterday," he said, "She attacked me."

"What do you mean she attacked you?" Liz back away, putting her arms around herself protectively, like she could shield herself from what she knew was coming.

"She tried to feed on me," Damon said pointedly.

"Did you-?" Liz gasped, putting her hand on her heart. Her lips trembled.

"No," Damon assured her, "I know I should have but... it's Caroline. I was dancing alongside her yesterday."

"There has to be some kind of mistake," she shook her head as the tears rolled down her face, "It's not her."

"Your daughter's a vampire Liz," Damon rubbed her shoulder, "Nobody else on the council knows but you need to get it together and decide what to do before someone finds out."

"What's there to decide?" the sheriff sobbed, "She's... one of them now."

"You won't be able to kill her Liz," Damon sat her down, "No matter what she is. And you'll never forgive the one who does or those complicit. It will tear the council apart."

"What else can I do?" she lifted her hands and dropped them in her lap.

"You can do nothing," he put his hand on hers, "You can let her go. I've heard of vampires who don't feed on humans. If she can do that then she'll stay off the radar. If she feeds on humans then some hunter will do the deed. If it's quiet you can hope, if worst comes to worst you'll know."

"Parenting by method of Schrodinger's cat," Liz sniffed.

"Is it really the worst thing?" Damon raised an eyebrow.

"What would I tell people?" Sheriff Forbes wiped her cheek but another tear wet it as soon as she was done.

"That you sent her to some remote treatment center for an eating disorder," the dark haired man supplied.

"Caroline doesn't have an eating disorder," Liz let out a desperate little laugh.

"She lives on blood," Damon couldn't resist being Damon, "Sorry," he caught himself.

"Thank you Damon," Liz used her last bit of composure to get to her feet, "I won't forget this," she swallowed, "Now please leave. I need a moment to myself."

"Of course," Damon touched her arm and left. Elizabeth Forbes took off her gun and crawled into bed. There she stayed and cried into the night.

Not too far away from Mystic Falls a miserable Caroline sat with a dead girl at her feet. She was a pretty little thing too. Honey colored skin and thick, curly black hair. What haunted Caroline the most were her eyes. They were unexpectedly blue, reminding her of herself. Guilt for her now was like a solid entity .It gnawed at her insides till she could barely stand. She was glad she had the pain. It made her feel human and she vowed she would keep a part of that, even if it was the most painful part.

Drinking blood made it easier, which made her feel guiltier, which led her to want more just to dull the pain and that made her feel worse. The cycle wouldn't stop. Klaus pushed a man in his early thirties toward her. "I'm... full?" she didn't know what the appropriate adjective was for sated blood lust.

"I didn't ask," Klaus pushed the man roughly. He stumbled and practically fell onto Caroline. She caught him gently and righted him.

"I don't want anymore," Caroline said even as the sound of the man's frightened little heart started to get loud to her ears. She truly did not need to drink anymore and Klaus knew as much. His current project was expanding her appetite.

"I say you do," he gave her that smug look again. Caroline's fangs came out and she bit into the man's throat, gulping fast to make the process shorter. Klaus just smiled. If she kept this up she would develop a monstrous appetite by the end of the week and insatiable blood lust by month's end. Caroline dropped the second corpse. After the third body hit the floor Klaus let her stop.

"Clean yourself up," Klaus handed her a handkerchief, "We're going hunting."

"What for? I can't drink anymore," Caroline felt sloshy, like if she moved you could hear the blood inside her move. It wasn't a pleasant feeling but the amount of blood in her system brought all feelings like fear, pain, guilt and frustration to an almost inaudible background hiss. She took the little piece of material and wiped around her mouth.

"Wolves," Klaus answered.

"Are we going the Twilight thing?" Caroline perked up.

"What?" the hybrid's brow wrinkled. Caroline regaled her captor with the story of vampires who lived on wild animals in far more detail than was necessary. She forgot for a moment that she was in the clutches of a psycho vampire who wanted God knows what from her. And forgot for a few minutes about his obsession and laughed at the ridiculous tale. Caroline had an easiness about her that he found refreshing. Also, her atrocious taste in literature made for a good laugh. He'd heard tell of vampires who lived on animal blood, the broody lot, he'd even heard of them loving a human then changing him or her so they could spend eternity together, the idiots, but a vampire being in love with a human and wanting her to remain that way? Ludicrous.

"We're looking for a werewolf," Klaus told her, stripping away the thin veneer of denial. Caroline laughed. It was pitchy and desperate but it wasn't hollow.

"Two nights ago I was picking out a dress to wear to a beauty contest and now I'm a vampire looking for a werewolf," she looked herself up and down like what she was was written there. The boots were certainly a hint towards less than amicable intentions if you were suspicious. She and Klaus were on foot, walking down two lane asphalt. To look at them you would think they were a couple taking a walk. To look closer you would see that the girl's body language hinted at latent discomfort. The guy is under some stress. There is a menacing quality to him.

"You're adjusting well," Klaus complimented, not something he did often.

"You're not exactly giving me a choice," Caroline folded her arms. Her feet fell heavier as she took what little anger she could out on the ground. That shut the door on their brief moment of ease.

"Walk faster," Klaus picked up the pace, "I want to find this wolf while you're still at a hundred and ten percent."

"Oh what do I have to do now?" Caroline's mood got darker.

"You could start by knowing your place," he grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her head back roughly. They stopped. He towered over her in this position. "You are here to do as I say when I say," his pupils contracted and dilated. Caroline gave a small shudder as her will gave way to that of Klaus. "Good, let's go," he ran his hand through her hair and led the way. Caroline followed him to what would be the most traumatic experience of her life yet.


	4. Chapter 4

"Okay then," Klaus came to sit next to Caroline, "Get it out of him." Their werewolf hunt had led them to a bar in Nowheresville.

Caroline squinted at Klaus. Mr British was killing her buzz. She looked to the exit of the small bar. "Don't even think about it," the hybrid swirled his bourbon.

"I wasn't," she lied. Caroline knew better. The hope she harboured was making her think foolish thoughts but she wasn't ready to let it go just yet.

"Come on," he draped an arm around her shoulders, "I've compelled everyone in the bar to behave so you can have your way with Ray."

"Get off me," Caroline shrugged out of his embrace (Klaus enjoyed her discomfort), "Why do you want a list of werewolves' names and their hangout spot? Short on friends?"

"I will be if you don't get the werewolf pinned to the wall to spill his guts, figuratively or otherwise," the original responded.

"You think this is friendship?" Caroline asked her captor.

"Get on with it," Klaus tilted his head in Ray's direction. Miss Mystic Falls made her way to Ray slowly. She pulled up a chair and stood on it. Ray looked at the pretty girl in front of him with apprehension. He knew vampires, and even the pretty ones were ferocious. Caroline pulled sections of her hair to the front of her shoulders and sat on the back of the chair. Her balance was something else nowadays.

"Ray," she smiled, "If I take you down will you give the evil man what he wants?" Ray spat in response. Catching the edge of Caroline's boot. In a flash she was in his face, her hand painfully tight around his throat. "I hate these stupid boots but I have to wear them and I don't like people's bodily fluids on my shoes Ray."

The incapacitated werewolf just glared, hissing in anger. "Look," Caroline calmed down, letting her hand slide from Ray's throat, "I don't want to torture you and I'm sure you don't want to be in pain. Just give Mr Silly Accent over there what he wants before we both get into trouble."

Klaus put his feet on the table and sat back with a smile. Caroline certainly got points for humour. Ray shook his head, hesitant to speak. He didn't know if this was good cop/bad cop with a very good actress in the former role. This girl genuinely looked like she did not want to do harm to him.

"He's going to kill them," Ray said hoarsely, "He's going to hunt my entire species into extinction."

Caroline turned to Klaus, hoping to find some sign that Ray's claims were not true. "Au contraire," the hybrid smiled, "I am going to make your species live forever."

The werewolf snorted. "I share that sentiment," Caroline whispered to Ray. Klaus threw a dart that flew an inch from Caroline's eye and pinned Ray's ear to the wall.

"I kept your phone," Klaus waved the device at Caroline, "Sheriff Forbes hasn't called but I am very interested in finding Matt's address. He's called you fifty eight times. Good friend? Boyfriend?"

"Stalker," Caroline put on her best poker face, "Kept my number long after he'd RSVP'd." She had turned this idea over in her head numerous times. She couldn't say he was some guy she gave her number to at the grill, maybe Klaus knew he was part of the student body. That reason made every lie she thought of but this one a bad bet. After she'd selected it from all other pitiful excuses she'd decided how to deliver it: with a shrug and a swing of those golden curls. Her execution was perfect. Unfortunately Klaus, who'd lied convincingly and repeatedly to so many over his ten centuries, did not believe a word that came out of her mouth. That wasn't his main concern right now.

"I'm getting bored... and put out," Klaus warned.

"Okay Raymond," Caroline turned and faced Ray, "I'm gonna tell you what I think. I think Niklaus has less than honourable reasons for seeking out your pack," Klaus cleared his throat, Caroline showed him her palm, "I think he's using you as his yellow pages and I think he's using me to do his dirty work. I'm not a gambler but I'd put the entirety of my measly savings on us both ending up dead. I think the only choice we have is how much we suffer before that time comes," she swallowed, then dipped her thumbs in the wolf's bane cocktail Klaus had made.

"I think you're right," Ray laughed bitterly, "But hey," he tried to shrug and winced, "I've still got that one choice."

"Hard way then," Caroline's shoulders dropped, "Just so you know: this is gonna hurt me more than its hurts you," she put her hands on either side of his face and dug her thumbs into his eyes. Ray let out an inhuman howl of pain. Empathy makes it hard to hurt another person. Her less than human part wanted to concentrate on the superiority but she pushed it aside. She shut her eyes tightly in concentration and in pain as she pushed her thumbs further into Ray's pupils.

"Stop!" he screamed. Caroline let out her breath in a gust and bowed her head. She lifted it again and closed her eyes when she saw what she'd done to Ray's.

"Let me hear it then," Klaus snapped his fingers.

"False alarm," Ray choked out a strained laugh. Klaus looked expectantly at Caroline. She huffed and went over to the bartender.

"Do you have an old pen I could use?" she asked.

"Of course," the bartender searched under the bar and gave her an empty, clear ball point. Caroline made a small task of taking it apart. What she was after was the small inner plastic pipe. Klaus watched curiously as as she put the instrument into the glass full of wolfsbane and sucked the liquid into it. She held one end closed so the liquid could stay inside as she walked over to Raymond with it. Caroline opened her mouth to warn Ray of the pain that was coming. Klaus gave her a scary, squinty-eyed glare. Easily she spotted his pulsating artery. She steeled her nerve and plunged her makeshift weapon past the skin. Then came the most painful part. She blew the toxin into his bloodstream. Ray's body revolyed. He hissed and screeched and hurt himself even more trying to fight the fire in his blood. Caroline made her face an impassive mask. She blinked more than she should.

"I admire your creativity," the hybrid smiled. Caroline ignored him. The bastard was just making her feel worse. She waited till Ray was done writhing then sucked more wolfsbane into her makeshift straw.

"I'll tell you," Ray said in a defeated voice. Caroline threw the tube into the toxic drink and listened, looking in the opposite direction, as Ray divulged the names of friends and their secret meeting place.

"Excuse me," Caroline ran for the exit. She felt like she was going to throw up. When she got outside she bent over and heaved but nothing came out.

"Get your hostage," Klaus tapped Caroline's shoulder, "We're leaving."

"I need a second to finish puking air," the baby vampire had her hands on her knees, "Wait, _my_ hostage?" the baby vampire put her hands up the way she usually did when she wanted to make a situation pause. It worked about as well as it usually did.

"I feel you're ready for more responsibility," said Klaus like a proud teacher, "Momentary lapse aside," he scratched the his hairline like he was embarrassed for her.

"You want me to control a werewolf as you haul us up and down the Eastern Seaboard," Caroline mulled it over, "It fits," she shook her head putting her hand in her hair.

"How so?" Klaus was intrigued. The workings of Caroline's mind were not those of a baby vampire, or a teenage girl and certainly not the typical beauty queen.

"You've been testing me since the second we met, maybe even before. It fits that the tasks get more impossible as we go along," she said with a quick rise and fall of her brows, "I'll probably end up at the bottom of the river once I fail one. Just don't touch my mom. She and I have never really gotten along but when all is said and done she's all I have," the blond put her arms around herself like she was cold.

"No harm will come to your mother," Klaus was moved by Caroline's loyalty to her family, "You have my word."

"Can I get a written guarantee?" Caroline snarked before she caught herself, "Sorry," she tucked her hair behind her ear, "I suppose asking for this kindness to be extended to my friends is overstepping."

"You suppose correctly," he nodded, "Now take Ray down. We're going to see my favourite witch."

"Roadtrip," Caroline cheered, jumping, hands in the air and all. Klaus looked at her like she was insane. She was certainly acting it. "I'm freaking out," she nodded as she walked past Klaus and back into the bar. He watched her as she walked inside. Her hair bounced and her skin almost glowed. He'd picked a strange one here but she amused him, intrigued him. The girl was something to marvel at.

"Witches," he heard her mumble as she took a squealing Ray down, "Vampires," she pulled a rod out, "Werewolves," she pulled out another, "And witches," she caught Ray as he dropped, "What's next? The Lochness sea monster? Aliens?" she slung the heavy man over her shoulder and trudged to the truck. "What's next?" she threw one hand up, the other held a panting Ray steady as she passed Klaus. This time he laughed silently at her crazy rambling. She wanted to know what other creature was out there? Well she would. She'd get a pretty close look at it too.


	5. Chapter 5

"Sit still," Caroline tie her hostage to a chair. Ray struggled, the chair tipped over and they were entangled in a heap of limbs.

"Caroline darling, the ropes work better if you put them on his skin. The wolf's bane is moot otherwise," Klaus said from down the hall.

"Shouldn't I just put a paralysis spell on him?" Greta whispered in Klaus's ear. They were sitting on the couch, her arm draped affectionately across his shoulders. His face on the spot just above her breast.

"Where's the fun in that?" he lifted his head slightly, doing that almost pout that is uniquely Klaus.

"All we're missing now is the doppleganger and the moonstone," she watched the two on the floor.

"And a vampire but I hear there are about half a dozen running around Mystic Falls," he shrugged.

"A vampire?" Greta's voice rose about an octave but the fighting blondes were oblivious to their conversation, "Why's she here then?"

"She's joining the new order," he leaned back.

"What use is she to you if you're not going to use her in the ritual?" Miss Martin was genuinely confused, "You can't turn her into a hybrid."

"I like to think of her as my personal assistant," he laughed as Ray delivered a blow that drew blood and Caroline pulled the ropes around his wrists.

"I am so through being nice to you," she said in that high school girl way that made it hard to believe.

"How personal?" Greta purred suggestively at Klaus.

"I have important things to do. I have no time for sex and more importantly, I have no time for how crazy it makes the female members of any species," he answered with mild disgust. It disappeared when he looked upon how efficiently Caroline roped Ray up and tossed him into the bedroom once he'd beaten the sympathy out of her. "Over here," he motioned with his finger.

"You summoned me Your Grace?" the blonde put her hand on her hip.

"She's got spunk," Greta smiled.

"Hey you with the hair like an extra from Foxy Brown, stop talking about me like I'm not here," Caroline threw a dirty look at the witch.

"Greta has been so kind as to offer to make you a daylight ring so you can walk in the sun without turning into a piece of charcoal," Klaus went back to being his smirking self.

"I love your hair. It has this whole Alicia Keys thing going on," Caroline changed her tune.

"Put this on," Greta handed Caroline a small plain ring. The other girl slipped it onto her index finger and held her hand up.

"How'd you make it?" Caroline stared at the silver band, "Did you do one of those witchy things where you just looked at the rock and the metal ran out and formed the ring."

"Refreshing, isn't she?" Klaus laughed.

"Yeah," Greta doubled over.

"What?" Caroline glared from one of them to the other. She didn't like being laughed at.

"It's just a ring from a pawn shop love," Klaus stopped, "Nothing magical about it till Greta works her spell."

"Oh," Caroline blushed, even embarrassment was intense, "Good thing I didn't go around opening the curtains."

"That would have been painful," the Martin witch reached into a bag and pulled out a grimoire.

"I know," Caroline groaned, "Ray, that cockroach you see tied up over there, opened the fucking curtains this morning. Unforgettable experience."

"I'll bet," Klaus smirked.

"Why don't you need a daytime thing?" Caroline asked. Ray picked that moment to start thrashing around. "Can't you just do that freaky mind control thing to him?" Caroline whined. They were in a hotel in Mystic Falls. Two miles away from home and she was compelled to stay put. Ray was not and he had not exactly been an easy hostage.

"Can't," Klaus smiled, "He's supernatural. Compulsion won't work on him."

"Aren't I supernatural?" she asked. There didn't seem to be anything natural about being a vampire.

"You're a vampire," Klaus said like it was the most obvious answer to her question.

"Isn't that a yes?" Caroline persisted.

"You're not going to stop chewing my ear off about this, are you?" Klaus rolled his eyes, "Vampires have the power to compel humans. No vampire can compel a supernatural creature. Ordinary vampires cannot compel each other. Only the Originals, this being a member of the original family of vampires, can compel another vampire."

"So you're one of the very first vampires," Caroline realised. A noise came out from the bedroom. "Shit," she ran into it, "Stop doing that, you're only hurting yourself more," she told the struggling Ray. Unfortunately hotel beds did not come with four poster and she left him tied up on the floor. "If you don't stop writhing around on the floor and knocking shit over I will be forced to put you in the closet."

"It's dark and cold in there," Ray made big, sad eyes at Caroline, "And I'm in pain."

"Stop making so much noise," she pleaded, "Some idiot will complain and they'll send someone here and Klaus already ate the maitre'd."

"You seem genuinely concerned," her hostage still couldn't wrap his head around it, "For a vampire, the value you put on human life and the sympathy you feel for me is kind of creepy."

"I swear to God I will gag you," Caroline hissed.

"Ha!" Ray dragged the curtain to the side with his feet. Caroline screamed and covered her face.

"Wait a minute," she realised she wasn't burning.

"Son of a bitch," Ray turned over on his side.

"I love witches," Caroline ran down the hall and threw herself at Greta, sending them both to the floor.

"Ow," the dark skinned girl cried out. Klaus slapped his knee with laughter.

"Sorry," Caroline got up and pulled her to the feet, "Being super strong is not as fun as I once thought it could be," she tried to pull back but Greta held on and got this look of intense concentration on her.

"What is it?" Klaus stood up, leaving his amused state in a snap.

"Someone's trying to locate her," Greta replied with her eyes closed.

"Block them," Klaus commanded. It was the remnant of instincts instilled by a thousand years on the run. What could whoever was trying to find Caroline do to him?

"That is what I'm doing," Greta sounded just a little snippy from her effort. Caroline smiled. Apparently she mattered to someone, anyone out there. It meant a lot.

**AN: this chapter is short and unproofed because my laptop charger is in the shop and the idiots are giving me the run around about getting it back. I borrowed one and managed this with limited battery time. I've left the readers of this story hanging for quite a while so I had to post this. I was kind of hurt when I got the silent treatment from my reviewers. Gradually the feedback rolled in and made me feel loved. Don't get me wrong I will update a story even if there is one review but it kind of takes the wind out of my sales. Yes, I'm a cry baby. I'm trying to get over it and be consistent.**

**Drop a comment.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: you have been kind to me in both the quantity and the quality of reviews so I've been typing away on the tiny tiny tiny buttons of my cousin's blackberry for the past day or so to get this out. Warning, I have seriously screwed with the time line here but it just takes too long for all the characters to get where I want them. **

"Well," Elena paced her room, "Where is she?"

"I don't know," Bonnie threw her hands up in frustration, "The connection is weak because we don't have the blood of a relative and I think someone's blocking me."

"What do you mean?" The Gilbert girl paused in her pacing.

"A witch is hiding her," Bonnie folded up the map.

"Why would a witch take Caroline?" Elena sat on her bed.

"We don't know that one did," the witch pointed out, "Only that one is hiding her. Whatever else is going on we can't be sure ."

"We know her mother is in on it," Elena said in an accusatory tone, "But why?"

"Not everyone's mother is Isobel," Bonnie reminded her.

"This is not about Isobel Bonnie," Elena shook her head, "Caroline is not bulimic."

"I'm not saying I think she is," Bonnie shook her head, "Just that her mother might believe that."

"You think sheriff forbes is under compulsion?" Elena gaped at her friend. She got a tentative shrug back. "But she's on vervain."

"So was Jenna," the witch reminded.

"Katherine," Elena thought with a shudder, "If she took Caroline, why isn't she torturing us with it?"

"Maybe she's protecting her end game," Bonnie's shoulders rose and fell with the weight of the world, "I'm gonna go home, do something halfway normal for the ten minute interval that I have been vampire attacks."

"Yeah, I'm hide in my house with my aunt and her vampire slaying boyfriend till further notice," Elena confided, "I'm going to out till the masquerade ball, you know what? Not even then."

Bonnie gave a little nod and left. She may be on board with the plan to get rid of Katherine and keep Elena in the dark but she felt uncomfortable lying right to her face.

The plan to get rid of Katherina had gone off with only one hitch and they'd found a way around it. Now the bitch could rot in the tomb where she should have spent the last hundred and forty five years of her life. Of course Elena had gone missing in the middle of the night. There was really not a good day to be had in Mystic Falls.

Stefan and his brother went after her and brought her back alive, now the vampire bitch who'd kidnapped her had shown up in their home. "Klaus is a bedtime story," Stefan assured his girlfriend.

"Maybe not so much," Damon said with a grimace.

"And you know this, how?" Elena asked with growing suspicion.

"Read it in a love letter addressed to Stefan," Damon answered.

"Katherine wrote you?" Elena asked.

"No," Stefan answered, "What are you talking about?" He asked his brother.

"Blondie came by a while back," Damon admitted.

"Caroline was here?" Elena sprang out of her seat. She took Damon's head tilt as a yes, "She was here and you let us lose our minds all this time?"

"I was pissed," the raven haired Salvatore explained.

"When are you going to stop punishing me for loving Stefan?" She asked.

"Its not you I was punishing," Damon answered, "Blondie is not exactly the Care you knew and loved."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Stefan jumped in.

"She's a vampire, an angry sadistic one," he rubbed his shoulder unconsciously.

"What are you talking about?" Elena was not processing this one.

"She came here and attacked me," Damon replied.

"Why would Caroline attack you?" This was making less sense to Elena the more she heard.

"Because when she turned she remembered how he victimised her," Stefan answered.

"But why didn't she go home?" Elena was losing her patience with this story. Then Damon said the painful sentence that brought it all together.

"Klaus has her."

"What?" Elena's eyes quickly became wet, "The oldest vampire in the history of time is holding my best friend hostage and you didn't think to tell anyone about it."

"When you put it like that," Damon set his drink down, "I didn't know it was an original. I assumed it was some run of the mill vampire she'd escape eventually."

Elena gave a diisgusted shake of her head and turned to Rose. "Why would he take her?"

"I don't know, maybe to send a message," she replied, "Klaus will not stop until he has what he wants from you. He'll kill anyone who gets in his way and he will not stop till you have no one to run to."

"It might be something else," Stefan argued, "Otherwise why turn her?"

"To use her against you," Rose supplied, "You seem to make enemies easier than you make friends," she looked at Damon.

"You have no idea," Elena made to walk out but stopped at the door.

"That her daughter was a vampire," Damon answered simply. Elena nodded and a tear sild from her eye as she turned to leave. She couldn't help feeling like they had failed Caroline. They kept her in the dark and now she must feel betrayed by all of them. She was also suspeptible to being manipulated and turned against them because they thought they could keep her out of it by keeping her in the dark. She was realising more and more that keeping the people in her life out of the supernatural was not an option.

Caroline had locked herself in the bathroom. Leaning against the door against intrusion, she refused to cry. She just needed a minute to herself. "Come out of there. I'm bored," Ray declared. It had been five days since their last fight, six since he'd successfully evaded Caroline and been stopped by Klaus. He'd been pretty docile since then.

"I'm not here to entertain you," she called back.

"Of course not, you're here for some super secret reason that our master will not share," Ray sneered, "Wouldn't it be easier to pretend that you're entertainment?"

"Fuck you," Caroline swore at him though the door.

"I'm homesick too," Ray said, suddenly up against the door.

"Is your home a walking distance away?" Caroline's sarcastic laugh turned into real tears, "Because mine is. If I stand on the roof I can see it. I can't go anywhere near it but it's there, taunting me."

"At least someone's looking for you," Ray sighed. Caroline scolded herself mentally. She hadn't once thought of Ray's personal anguish. Sure she knew he didn't want to be here, she knew she inflicted pain on him but she thought of him like an island. She never thought of the people who might be missing him. It was self-absorbed.

"You can come in and wallow in despair with me" she opened the door a cracked and peaked at him, "If you agree to shave that disgusting beard."

"Look what I found?" Ray held up a bottle.

"Are you insane? Put that back," she lowered her voice, even knowing that Klaus wasn't around did not help her paranoia.

"Or what?" Ray waltzed into the bathroom, "This isn't gonna end well either way. Why not go out with some balls?"

"When you put it like that," Caroline shrugged and closed the door.

"Who were you?" Ray asked, "Before you were dead."

"Neurotic, insecure control freak slash beauty queen," she answered, "Who were you?"

"Nobody," Ray answered, "I did that whole kung fu wondering the Earth thing and hid who I really was and now the only people who knew me are dead," he turned the bottle upside down and gulped.

"I'm sorry," Caroline told him.

"Not your fault," he passed the bottle.

"I'm still sorry," Caroline lifted the bottle and drank the bitter liquid. They continued to drink straight from the bottle, sharing increasingly personal details about their lives as they got intoxicated.

"I'm afraid she's better off without me," Caroline admitted, "Don't get me wrong I want her to be safe. I just... I'd feel like shit if she were happier without me."

"I get what you're saying," Ray nodded, "The werewolf gene makes it impossible to be normal. I was way more of a problem child than you can ever hope to be."

"But if its genetic then your parents would have to understand, wouldn't they?" Caroline turned to Ray.

"Unless they didn't trigger the curse and have no idea what it is," the scruffy man sighed, "Until I moved out here I had no idea what was happening to me."

"Triggered?" Caroline asked.

"You have to kill someone," the werewolf answered, "Not murder," he clarified when he saw the look on Caroline's face, "Homocide, accident, self-defense, it doesn't matter. If you're responsible for the end of someone's life you're cursed to morph into a beast and break every bone in your body in, one by one, every single month."

"I don't think I grasped what it was to be cursed until now," Caroline took the bottle to her lips and drank.

"At least you found a way out of yours," he snatched the bottle away and drank.

"What are you talking about?" Caroline snatched the bottle back. She'd only been talking in general terms, that the concept had taken on new meaning.

"I'm talking about the curse of the sun and the moon," Ray flicked some whiskey off his beard.

"Sounds ominous," Carolines turned to face Ray, making a basket with her legs. She was wearing a very short, kind of loose pair of shorts. From this angle, Ray could see a sliver of her ass. "Ray," she snapped her fingers, "Curse of the sun and the moon."

"Oh yeah," the back of Ray's neck heated up. He hadn't really thought about Caroline like a girl before that moment. If he had to guess he would say hearing about her life, her pain and fear and insecurities had made her human in his eyes. "There's an aztec curse placed on vampires and werewolves that keep vampires from walking in the day and werewolves beholden to the night..."

And so Ray unpacked the sun and moon curse for Caroline. By the time he was done they'd gone through the bottle. "Well if some werewolf somewhere break the curse of the moon I will be okay," she wiggled her fingers, "Unless some werewolf goes goes wolfman on me."

"Turning into a wolf is painful, agonising," the werewolf told the vampire, "Doing so without compulsion would be like carving out your own kidney with a butter knife except it hurts all over. I don't imagine anyone would do it unless it was life or death."

"Let's go find another bottle," Caroline suggested, "And you can tell me another supernatural thing that affects me."

"I knew I could corrupt you," Ray winked. He put an arm around Caroline's waist and pulled her to her feet as he stood up.

"Shhh," Caroline was the first to catch the sound of the door opening. She signalled to Ray that he should check one side of their lodgings and she sped across the other searching for the intruder. "Mr Saltzman," she threw her arms around him with practiced restraint.

"Not exactly love," her history teacher's face turned up into a familiar smirk.

"Klaus?" Her eyes grew wide.

"Honey I'm home," he smiled, "Thank you for the warm welcome. It's nice to be loved."

"There isn't a point where things can't get any weirder, is there?" Caroline said once she'd picked her jaw up off the floor.

"No," Klaus helped Greta over the threshold, "There is not."

Caroline was still so shocked she couldn't bring herself to comment on the strangely spousal way Greta and Klaus acted. "Pack everything up," Klaus made it obvious he was talking to Ray, "We're moving."

"Oh what fresh hell is this?" Caroline mumbled as she went to help Ray with the luggage.

"Curious," Klaus watched Caroline and Ray.

"Indeed," Greta watched Klaus.

**Don't forget to review**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: I don't relish rewriting things that happened on TV but for the sake of clarity, I mention them. If I don't mention an event or a consequence of it, it did not happen. If I ignore it, it also did not happen eg, Luca's death. If it's here and you don't know how, assume I'll explain it later. This is a tangled web I'm weaving, sometimes I need to leave a string or two hanging in order to avoid knots. **

**Thank you all for the reviews. Keep them coming.**

"So," Caroline applied mascara, "Since you've pried into every personal detail of my life, without my consent, I feel I've earned the right to ask: what's your damage?"

"My damage?" Klaus raised an eyebrow.

"You have four hostages which you are using all sorts of methods to keep under control," she narrated, "A healthy man does not torture others Niklaus. Generally, it's the tortured that become torturers."

"I'm not tortured," Klaus smirked, "I'm creative."

"So you claim. You seem to be invincible and yet you hide behind the face of my history teacher," Caroline pointed out.

"It's a game," he told her, "It's fun."

"No it isn't," she looked into his eyes, "You're running from something. Maybe a betrayal of a friend, someone who knows your weakness, a brother perhaps, no, oh my God."

"You have no God," Klaus mocked.

"Your father," she concluded.

"Mikael is _not_ my father and I am _not_ afraid of him," Klaus growled, literally growled.

"I'm a child of a broken home, I live with a single mother who works too much and my father came out when I was thirteen," Caroline told him, "I know all about Daddy issues. I can spot them a mile away."

"I have nothing to fear," he bluffed, "You, however, do not have the luxury of saying that," he put a hand around her throat, ripped her from the seat and slammed her into the mirror.

"You are so scared you're running away from admitting your own fear, even to yourself," she hissed with what little air she could get past his vice grip, "It's okay to be afraid," she laid a gentle hand on top of his just as he changed his mind about snapping her neck. He set her on her feet and let his hand slide down her elegant neck, "On a bad day, fear will keep you alive," she landed on her feet and brushed her hair behind her ear.

"Officing in Barbie's dresser?" Ray barged in.

"Maddox," Klaus commanded in that single word. Maddox unleashed a blinding headache on Ray that was so severe he got on his knees and begged for mercy, "This is what will happen if you attempt to leave this apartment."

"Yes sir," Ray nodded gratefully when the pain passed.

"I'm sorry," Caroline touched his shoulder. It was a thing between them. She apologised for all the shit that happened to him when she was around. What she didn't know was that Klaus noticed it, more importantly, that he hated it. He didn't want sympathy, not for Ray, not for anybody, especially not from Caroline. He didn't know what it was that made him feel that way, he didn't care. He just didn't want her to know, suspected she would have power over him if she did.

"As for you," Klaus addressed the latest addition to his merry band of prisoners, "I want you to take this knife and stab yourself." Katherine did as she was told. "Now while I'm gone, I want you to do that over and over. If you get bored, switch legs."

"Talk about cruel and unusual punishment," Caroline winced. She'd been filled in on the details regarding the doppleganger and the curse (and Katherine's betrayal of Klaus). It was freaky how much Katherine looked like Elena but Caroline could tell the difference. It was in their eyes. She'd looked into the face of cruelty long enough to tell it from good. Whatever Katherine's misfortunes were, Caroline was sure she'd caused a lot of trouble of her own.

_What are you talking about? Cruel is the usual punishment._ Ray did not risk snarking out loud.

"Let's go," Greta put her arm through Caroline's like a long time friend, "We wouldn't want to be late for history class," she winked at Niklaus.

"No, you would not," he brushed her cheek. Caroline closed her eyes. They made her stomach turn when they did this. Klaus had brain-washed Greta, to Caroline it felt like watching an act of abuse just as brutal as making Katherine stab herself.

"Now I am going to go lay eyes on my precious doppleganger," Klaus kissed Katherine's forehead, "Oh don't look so glump Katerina. The fun is just beginning," he turned and walked to the door, "Again," he commanded as he picked up his coat. Caroline jumped a little in the hall as Katherine shoved the blade into her flesh.

_You can do this _she thought to herself, _This is who you are. This is who you've been for over a decade and a half. _Greta drove them to school in a navy convertible, a Mercedes. Caroline had no interest in knowing how they had attained that one. They got out of the car and walked into the quad.

"Caroline," Elena came running up to her.

"Hi," Greta gave her a big smile, "The doppleganger slash best friend, right?"

"Who are _you_?" Elena asked.

"None of your business," Greta smiled, "Klaus says 'Hi'."

"Klaus?" the Gilbert girl gaped.

"What?" Bonnie ran up.

"You heard right," the Martin witch winked as she tried to walk past. Bonnie grabbed her arm.

"Greta," the Bennett witch exclaimed, "Oh my God."

"Let go, or you'll be sorry," Greta smiled in that unsettling way Caroline recognised from Klaus.

"Bonnie," the blond girl warned her friend.

"Luca wants to see you," Bonnie dropped her arm, "So does your father."

"I'm gonna say this once," Greta stepped up to Bonnie, came this close to stepping on her toes, "Don't talk to me about my family. It is neither your business, nor your place."

"Just talk to them," Bonnie stepped in her way when she tried to go around. They just stood there staring at each other for a while. Being witches fell away and all that was left were two teenage girls and their stubborn streaks. Greta's won out.

"Let's go," she tilted her head. Caroline opened her mouth but nothing came out. She couldn't tell them anything about, regarding or in any way relating to Klaus, Greta, Katherine and the sun and moon curse. She could not even mention his name. "Caroline," the curly haired girl was getting impatient.

"Bye," the blond gave her friends a small wave. They gave her sad, painful smiles and waved back.

"So," Elena handed her friend a tissue, "More problems."

"When I touched her, it was like I could see inside her," said Bonnie, "She's... happy with her life. It's strange. I don't understand. Maybe Luca can talk to her."

"How did life get so screwed up so fast?" the brown haired girl wondered as she watched her best friend walked away with a stranger.

"Who's Luca?" Caroline asked. Greta cut her eyes at her. "Nevermind," the baby vampire did not press the issue. Her witchy companion may have barely cleared five feet but she was not to be trifled with. The school day was long.

Physics: Caroline ran into Tyler. He looked down and walked past without a stupid comment, an annoyed look or so much as a glance. He looked troubled. Like he had some deep dark secret that was tormenting him but he couldn't share. Okay, maybe that was just a projection.

English: she ran into Matt. Practically ran past Matt. "That's it," he turned, "No explanation, no greeting, just walk by like I'm made of vapour."

"Matt," Caroline looked up at him and then at Greta. She turned her back and gave them some pretext of privacy.

"What? Say something," he said angrily, "You vanished in the middle of the night, you left without saying goodbye and you never called. Say anything."

"I'm sorry," Caroline blinked her tears away, "I thought it would be- I think the best thing for us is a clean break," she steeled her will and walked away as fast as she could without being suspicious. Matt just stood there with a lump in his throat.

Biology: Dead silence. Greta seemed to have that effect on people in her immediate circle of friends, even the ones who didn't know she was a witch.

French: Caroline ditched French and by some miracle ditched Greta. She didn't think she really could ditch Greta, seeing as witches could locate people with their voodoo, but it felt nice being by herself for a little while. Who thought she'd miss solitude? There was a dessert stand her father used to take her to, not far from the school. She went there. "Soft serve please," she stuck her wax earplugs further into her ears, it was easier to control the burning thirst when she didn't hear so much, "With chocolate sprinkles."

"Your father used to take you out for those every Wednesday," Sheriff Forbes shook her own cone from a park bench.

"Mom," the breath flew out of Caroline's lungs, "Are you drunk?"

"It's my day off," Liz swept her hand down her body, showing that she wasn't wearing her uniform.

"Day drinking," Caroline sat next to her mother on the bench, "I suppose it's acceptable when your only child dies."

"You're dead?" the grieving mother turned to her daughter.

"In a way," the vampire answered, "I was killed but I'm still walking around. It doesn't make much sense to me but there it is."

"I head up the town's counsel," Liz nodded the way drunk people do when they confess something, "We... deal with vampires."

"I heard," Caroline watched her ice-cream melt, "And I understand. What I am, it isn't natural and it isn't good. I don't wanna die, but I don't want to be like this. I'm stuck, in so many more ways than one."

"I'm sorry I failed you," Elizabeth cried.

"You didn't fail me," Caroline reached for her mother but pulled her hand back, "You couldn't have helped me."

"I protect people from vampires," the sheriff's voice quavered. Caroline opened her mouth to tell her mother that Klaus was not like other vampires, that he was much more dangerous. "And I couldn't protect my own daughter."

It hurt to hear her mother speak about her in the past tense. "You can't stay here," Liz wiped her eyes, "Someone will find out and we'll have to hunt you. They'll notice that you don't- how drunk am I? It's broad daylight."

Caroline held up the finger with the ring on it. "What is it?" Liz pulled it closer for examination.

"It's a daylight ring," Caroline curled her finger, "If you pull it out I'll burn up and die," she straightened her finger. Her mother looked at her and pushed it back down her finger. Caroline looked up and saw Greta in the distance. "Goodbye mom," she laid her head on her mother's chest.

"Goodbye baby," Liz brushed Caroline's hair single handed. In the next instance her daughter vanished into the wind. Liz Forbes was amazed, she didn't think she could feel worse.

Fifth period lunch: Luca came up to Greta, by himself. "I need to go to the bathroom," Caroline walked off. She sat in a stall, on the floor and cried.

"Greta," he reached for his sister, "We've been worried sick," he wrapped his arms around her. His sister put one arm around his midsection. "We're gonna get you out of this, somehow, anyhow."

"I don't need to be gotten out of anything," she pulled back.

"What?" her brother was stunned.

"I shouldn't have up and vanished without an explanation," she brushed his arm, "I never wanted to worry you but you know how Dad is. He'd never have let me go."

"Why would you want to leave us?" he didn't understand.

"Our way of life is so restrained," she explained, "With Klaus we could make our own rules."

"_Our? We?_" Luca's eyes bugged out.

"Join us," she put her hand in his.

"Greta," he backed away unconsciously.

"Think about it," she brushed his face. Luca just stood there with a dumb slack-jawed look on his face wondering what the hell was going on.

"This gets messier and messier," Stefan rubbed his creased brow.

History: Elena was waving around a decade dance poster. Trying to convince people to go. Caroline wondered how she could do that, act like the sky wasn't falling. "You can come to the dance, right?" she smiled at Caroline.

"I don't know," she her eyes flickered to Greta.

"Don't you wanna go?" she waved the colourful poster in front of Greta.

"You mean you're inviting me to sit at the cool kids' table?" she said with fake enthusiasm, "I'll take it under advisement."

Fake Ric walked into the class and greeted everyone. "What are we learning today?" he asked into the silence.

"With the decade dance tonight we've been covering the sixties all week," Dana replied.

"Right, the sixties," Klaus dropped the book he'd picked up. He paused and stared at Elena a little too long. "The sixties, I wish there was something good I could say about the sixties but actually they kind of sucked, except for the beetles, of course. They made it bearable. What else was there? The Cuban missile thing, we walked on the moon, there was Watergate-"

"Watergate was the seventies Ric," Elena corrected, "I mean Mr Saltzman," she amended when he, and everyone else, gave her a look.

"Right," he nodded, "It all kind of mushes together up here: sixties, seventies. Thank you, Elena."

Klaus went on with a very weirdly laid back lecture, even for Ric. Then he left and compelled Dana to ask Elena to save him the last dance.

Later at the secret meeting the Trojans had a nice chat about killing Klaus while he sat huddled inside his wooden horse thoroughly entertained. "How would you kids like to go to the decade dance?" he smiled at Greta and Caroline when he got to Ric's place.

"Of course," the Martin witch smiled.

"Caroline?" Klaus turned his smile on her.

"Do I really have a choice?" she wanted to know.

"No," Klaus decided. There was no reason to give her a choice after all. He wanted her there so she would be there. What she wanted was not his concern.

"Then I would love to go," she said with so little enthusiasm that, for a split second, he thought of letting her stay home.

"I need you two wicked witches to kill Bonnie Bennett," she pointed between Greta and Maddox.

"That would kill us," Maddox told him, "But I know a way that you could get her to kill herself."

"What? No," Caroline yelled, "You can't kill Bonnie, she's my friend."

"Your friend is trying to kill me so I consider killing her, fair. Besides," Klaus looked down at the fuming blond vampire. What are you going to do about it?"

_I'll stop you_ Caroline vowed _I don't know how, but I will._ "That's what I thought," he smirked. "Now, who wants to go shopping?" he smiled.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Sorry for the long wait.**

"Clever," Ray smiled.

"Right?" Caroline twirled, she was wearing a uniform straight from a petite Vietnam vet... or his compelled grandson. It seemed apt, seeing as she had been draughted into a war that had not much to do with her.

"Has his royal hotheadedness seen you?" the werewolf mumbled.

"Yeah, he thinks its hilarious," the blond rolled her eyes. Ray just mhh-ed in response. "To him it would be. My joke may be on him but his is on my friends. Also, Greta is dressing up as a hippy so he's getting a laugh out of us going as 'irony'."

"Want me to pin a note to his jacket that says 'Trojan Horse'," he laughed.

"Somehow I don't think he'd take that one very well," she smiled. They were standing in the hall, Ray leaning against the wall, Caroline in the doorway, looking in the mirror. She wore no make-up, just moisturised and put on some lip balm. Her hair was pulled back in a bun. If Caroline Forbes was capable of looking plain, she would. "Wanna troll for a get-up? Be my date?"

"There's no way he'll let me out of here," he told her easily, "I can't be compelled, he can't have his witch babysit me the entire time and I have nothing to lose. If I ever got out that door I would be gone."

"Or dead," Greta waltzed past Caroline, into the room to apply make-up.

"That's the final destination for us all," he sneered at the witch, "Sooner than you think."

"Is that a threat?" she threw back over her shoulder.

"It's a warning darling," Ray met her eyes in the mirror, "Get into bed with a snake and at some point you will get bitten."

"Be quiet Dog," she said with menace, "You don't know what you're talking about."

"The geek who does the quarterback's homework hoping he'll invite her to the prom?" he rolled his eyes,"It's called a cliché," he got out Greta unleashed her wrath.

"Stop it," Caroline supported Ray, "Please." Satisfied that everyone knew who was in charge, Greta went back to painting her face. "I'm sorry," the blond cradled her friend to her chest.

"It was worth it," he chuckled silently and wrapped his arms around her small waist. They stayed like that for a while, her running her fingers through his hair, him holding on tightly to her, breathing her in.

"Isn't this cosy?" Klaus shocked them out of their embrace. When you're in captivity you learn very soon the tones of your captor.

"Did your spell work 'cause I would love to test it," Caroline was practically snarling.

"Still pouting, are we?" the hybrid's attention went another way.

"You want to kill my friend," she pointed out, "I'll pout till I'm damn well satisfied."

"Fine," he shrugged, "Greta, let's get a move on."

"You can't rush perfection," she sang, "And you should probably go ahead. For those of us who never went to high school: teachers have to show up first to these things. I'll take Caroline, Maddox will handle Wolfman and Mata Hari. You go pretend to be worried with your students."

"Don't be late," Klaus warned and exited. Caroline and Ray sat in the hall. Katherine was in the kitchen, trying her best to go unnoticed. It wasn't hard with the other prisoners mouthing off as much as they did. After half an hour, the witch was done and the girls left.

The party was surreal, at least to Caroline. She used to enjoy these things, organise them, they defined who she was. Now, she really wanted nothing to do with any of it. Stefan came up and wrapped his arms around her, swaying to the music. "Is he here?" he asked.

"I can't say,"Caroline replied, "But I can tell you what a stupid question that is."

"Stupid because he is obviously here or stupid because he is obviously hazing us?" he asked.

"Herein lies our problem," she sighed, "You overthink things."

"Damon doesn't," he said quietly.

"I'd rather crawl through broken glass," she snipped.

"This is bigger than you and Damon," Stefan reminded her.

"Then get someone else," Caroline stopped the dance, "I am risking a lot more than you are here so you have to make some concessions. Ironically, immortality has made me realise just how short life is. I'm not going to spend it bending for other people. I've flexible enough." With that she pushed him back and went to drink some punch. She looked up to find Klaus smirking at her. She wanted to give him the finger but thought better of it. This was going to be a long enough night.

"Hey," Elena came up to Caroline.

"I like you a great deal more than Damon but you have always sucked at twenty questions," she smiled.

"That's not why I'm here," Elena put her arms around her friend. Caroline stood shocked for a moment. She couldn't remember the last time she was held in comfort. Hell she couldn't remember the last time she been held period. You know your life is truly sad when you don't know your life is sad, when it was becomes your normal.

"Stop," her voice quivered and her eyes gloss over with tears.

"Caroline," her best friend kept holding her, rubbing her back.

"Let go of me," the blond said dejectedly, "If you don't I will cry and if I cry I... I can't cry."

"Okay," Elena stepped back. She wanted to tell her friend she loved her, that she missed her, that she was sorry this happened. Stefan kept telling her that it wasn't her fault, maybe he was right. It was just hard to believe when she was the cause.

"_Sweet Caroline_," Greta came up singing.

"I hate that song," Caroline snarled. Grateful for the annoyance that warded off her tears.

"I hate it too," the witch smiled, "It lacks class," she looked her up and down.

"I would be insulted- if I cared at all what you thought," she threw a derisive glance over her shoulder and started to walk away. The Martin witch put a restraining hand on her shoulder. "You have a task to carry out."

"The night's still young, go smoke some pot," the vampire shooed.

"Klaus says now," Greta folded her arms.

"I'm going," Caroline put up her hands in submission, "You must be a hermaphrodite because only people with testicles need to assert their dominance this much."

Greta's eyes turned into slits. If she had anything to say about it that pretty blond head would be exploding for that comment but this was Klaus's party and she didn't want to ruin it. She watched as Caroline made her way across the room. "So," Caroline walked up to Bonnie, "You have very little to say to me these days."

"There's not much you and I can say to each other," her friend responded sadly, "You've been compelled to tell us nothing and we can't tell you anything."

"Do you know the single most used word in conversations about you?" the blond asked her friend, "Judgemental. I am in the exact same situation with Elena and she's making an effort."

"She's dating a vampire," Bonnie hissed, like it was something so obvious Caroline should have gotten it by now.

"And you're a witch! You really think you're in any position to look down your nose here?" the blond replied.

"Don't make this seem like I'm being snotty about a kid from the wrong side of the tracks," Bonnie shook her head, "Vampires kill people."

"So do witches," Caroline pointed out, "People make choices Bonnie, even people like us, and for you to lump them together because of the actions of the three you've met is... it's fucking racist," she turned and started to march away.

"You're pulling the race card?" her friend pursued her.

"I'm finally in a position to do so," Miss Forbes shrugged, "Who would have thought you'd turn out to be pro apartheid."

"Oh it is not the same thing," Bonnie threw up her hands.

"How is it different?" Caroline genuinely wanted to know.

"Name one vampire who hasn't killed someone," the Bennett witch challenged.

"I don't know that many vampires," she pointed out.

"How many lives have you ended?" Bonnie stopped at a quiet hall. Caroline looked at the floor in guilt.

"Now, now Bonnie," Klaus tutted, "That's no way to comfort a friend."

"Alaric," she looked to him, "What are you doing here? Have you managed to track Klaus down."

"Yes," he smiled, "So have you."

"What?" she looked back and forth between the two. Caroline pulled a chair from a nearby classroom and jammed the doors shut with its leg.

"You, Miss Bennett, are posing a bit of a problem for me," Klaus slunk closer and reached into inside his jacket, "Fortunately witches don't have immortality so this shouldn't be too hard," he pulled out a knife, "You should go," he said to Caroline.

"I'm sorry," she said tearfully to her friend then she entered a classroom and closed the door. Bonnie centred her power and propelled Klaus twenty feet into a trophy case.

"I know a witch too," he taunted as he got up.

**Earlier that day**

"What are we doing here?" Damon was the first to ask. Caroline Forbes and Bonnie Bennett were in his house, his brother was there too. This couldn't possibly be good. Caroline turned and took off her jacket. She never really talked to him.

"Um, what are we doing here?" Bonnie asked. The blond just looked down at her t-shirt, it had an ad for some bank. "How can we help you?" she read.

"You're here to help us," Stefan realised.

"With a game of twenty questions?" Damon's brow scrunched up.

"You can leave," Caroline gestured to the door.

"It's my house," he pointed out.

"You can still leave," she folded her arms.

"Damon," Stefan and Bonnie warned at the same time, as he was about to respond. "Let's all try to get along."

"Fine," Damon surrendered, "Let's play twenty questions."

Of all the ways they'd tried to kill an Original so far, this seemed like the most ridiculous.

**AN: Tell me what you'd like to see and I'll see if anything sparks. Writer's block is kicking my ass.**


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